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Check out an exclusive interview with Director Joss Whedon on Assembling ‘The Avengers’ at New York Times website. Joss Whedon talks about how he backed out of directing Iron Man, how he won the Avengers Movie with a single email pitch to Marvel Studios, and his experience on directing stars like Robert Downey Jr. and Samuel L. Jackson. The following is a brief excerpt from the interview:

Question: And you can live with having all the plot points of the previous Marvel movies dictated to you when you walk in the door?

Answer: Yeah, sure. And where all the other sequels are going to go. There was talk about, should we have this character? I’m like, you need to save that character for that other sequel. You can’t just throw that moment away. One of the biggest struggles for me was the end of “Iron Man 2″: “I’m in a semi-stable relationship.” “We approve of Iron Man but not Tony Stark.” They really made my job hard, in that respect. But you get all these pieces and it’s a puzzle. But it’s a puzzle that comes together. It’s not just a bunch of broken stuff — there is a way that it’s supposed to fit. And when it does, you find you’re being given as many gifts as you are problems.

Like this:

“We’re not a team. We’re a timebomb”. Just when you thought you couldn’t get more excited about Marvel’s Avengers movie, the new trailer explodes with intense action, gorgeous special effects and great one-liners. Thor Vs Captain America? Love the fact that all these giant egos are not gonna get along at first. Check out the new trailer below! (UK release date is April 26. US and Canada release day is May 4). What’s that huge flying thing at the very end?

“We got a Hulk”. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark is getting all the best lines! Scarlet Johansson/Black Widow’s little-bitty gun cracks me up when she’s standing next to Thor’s hammer and Captain America’s shield. Check out the EPIC trailer below!

The Avengers is the ultimate superhero ensemble movie featuring Marvel’s Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Nick Fury, Black Widow, Hulk and Iron Man. Despite all the star power and hollywood hype, undertaking such a movie could easily result in a mindless spectacle of special effects and ultra-tight costumes. When announced that Joss Whedon (TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly) was set to write the screenplay and direct The Avengers, it was met with both skepticism and joyful squeals. With only one feature film director’s credit in his resume at the time, it’s a surprising choice to have Whedon take on a movie that is rumored to have one of the biggest budgets in motion picture history. However, Whedon has a track record of crafting stories with meaningful character development in his TV series and has already developed a solid working relationship with Marvel as writer of the critically acclaimed Astonishing X-Men comics.

One of the biggest challenges of The Avengers is to give each character a real purpose in being a part of the story and to find a villain that could credibly threaten the superheroes. In a recent interview, director Joss Whedon discussed that the story will be told mainly from the viewpoint of Captain America, the first avenger, “since he’s the guy that just woke up and sees this weird-ass world” rather than trying to dilute multiple perspectives into one movie. New to Marvel’s franchise, is actor Mark Ruffalo who is taking on the role of the “you won’t like me when I’m angry” Hulk. Ruffalo’s characterisation will reportedly follow the TV show’s version of helping people in need rather than the other two feature film versions that had Bruce Banner obsessed with finding a cure for himself. Reprising his role as Iron Man/Tony Stark is Robert Downey Jr. and judging by the trailers it will be a lot of fun seeing him deliver Whedon’s classic one-liners and snarky witticisms. Early reports had Loki, Thor’s brother, as the “big bad” however there will be a secondary villain not yet featured in the trailers.